iPhone SE: All About Apple's Tiny New Phone

iPhone SE: All About Apple's Tiny New Phone

After a few years of big phone mania Apple’s finally giving us a phone that will fit comfortably in a woman’s pocket. It’s got the same guts as an iPhone 6s, minus the size, and looks an awful lot like the iPhone 5s — to the point that all the comparisons in the announcement were to the 5s and not the 6s.

Design

This phone is, from the outside, just an iPhone 5s. Same 4-inch display and same glass back and vaguely industrial lines and none of that curved glass nonsense on the front that has led to the iPhone 6 and 6s breaking every time they even look at the ground.

Camera

There was a lot of back and forth over what kind of camera the SE would feature. Now we know. It’s got the same camera as the 6s, including a 12 Megapixel sensor and 4K video support.

Guts

The iPhone SE packs in an A9 processor and M9 co-processor so you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference between it and the 6s. But for folks still clinging to their iPhone 5S this is a major, major upgrade.

There is, however, a distinct lack 3D Touch discussed — so that might be out. Those 5S owners won’t even notice, but they will likely be all about the improved Wi-Fi, the SE includes updates to AC Wi-Fi, and improved LTE speeds — allegedly 50 per cent faster that the iPhone 5s.

Price

The 16GB iPhone SE will go for $679 while the 64GB variation will go for $829. That puts it at the bottom end of the price spectrum of iPhones, despite being a little more powerful that the iPhone 6.

Release Date

It will be available for purchase at midnight March 24 (this Thursday) and available in stores March 31.